One of the questions I get most often is, "How is Patrick Maroon doing?" Up until recently most of my answers have been canned responses like, "He's getting better" or "He'll be a good NHL player some day."
I said until "recently."
Maroon played in 62 regular season games collecting a total of 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points. That's a respectable line for a guy that regularly saw third and fourth line minutes.
However, there is something special about the NHL playoffs and the heroes it gives birth to. But, in the playoffs there are always two types of heroes...those that become one instantly...for example....
The other night, the Boston Bruins were locked in a 0-0 overtime game with their bitter rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. Facing a 3-1 series deficit with another loss, the Bruins turned to rookie Matt Fraser to be their hero.
Making his NHL playoff debut after being called up from Providence of the American Hockey League, the 23-year-old Fraser scored at 1:19 of overtime to even up the series.
Those are the moments the Stanley Cup playoffs are made of.
But, Fraser may never score another goal like that again in his career. Thus making him an instant hero that lives off of that one moment.
Maroon, on the other hand, is proving to be the other type of playoff hero.....a legitimate playoff commodity.
In nine playoffs games Maroon has seven points (2g 5a) and collected at least a point in the past six games. To put that in perspective, he currently sits third on the team in playoff scoring behind Ryan Getzlaf (3g 8a) and Corey Perry (3g 5a).
The 26-year-old Maroon is coming through in big way for this Ducks, especially in this current series against the Los Angeles Kings. He has points in all three games (1g 2a). Listed at 6' 3" and 230lbs., Maroon gives Anaheim the big body they need to help create havoc around Jonathan Quick's crease.
His play also helps to eliminate all the "Why did the Ducks trade Dustin Penner" talk. Penner was traded to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline. At the time it was a head-scratcher, but as is turn out, it was the right call.
Penner earned the reputation for being a big-time playoff performer because five of his 13 career playoff goals were game-winners. But did you know....Penner's playoff high point total is 11? He collected that in the Kings 2011-12 Cup run. He did that in 20 games. Prior to that it was nine in 2005-05 with the Ducks.
Maroon is giving the Ducks another element to their game and helping a power play that was among one of the worst in the league and struggled to find any kind of consistency at any time this past season.
As of now, the Ducks rank third in playoff power play percentage with a stellar 27.8% conversion rate.
Plus, is there anybody else on the Ducks roster that could have made Teemu Selanne relevant again? I'm just saying....